It was very nice attending my first international game this year in the Abuja national stadium.
The last time I saw the Eagles perform was in Johanesburg against Argentina, so I found myself comparing this atmosphere with that of the world cup last year.
The choice of starting the Nigeria v Ethiopia game at 7pm was actually brilliant, the tempreature is cooler, more people could attend and remarkably it highlighted the beauty of the stadium, at least i thought so...
The Eagles put up a good performance , and as predicted by some we gave Ethiopia what can only be described as a thrashing. (Nigeria 4 - Ethiopia 0 )
At half time , there was a surprise appearance by our great Kanu Nwankwo, he jogged round the pitch and was cheered by thousands of fans in the crowd.
Overall everything went very well , security was good, the game was good, the evening was good and then just as we were leaving, a little Nigerian factor crept into the whole show, most of the turnstiles (Gates) in my section were closed.
People had to start climbing the fence to jump over and you could see the makings of a stampede coming up, We made a quick decision and left swiftly but I couldnt help thinking , in the world cup last year , I remeber them specifically opening all the gates at the end of each game to prevent this kind of scenario.
I HOPE WE CAN EMULATE THAT SOMEDAY.
